I am quite satisfied with what I achieved yesterday, which was Day One of finishing up my pending blocks of my free BOM Quilt, Round the Year! I probably could do a bit more, but am being careful with my back.
The blades, spikes and wedges of Block 8 Spiked Dresden are joined together!
The Dresden ring is pieced! Now for the centre…
Pixellated Centre – Post 1
I have also started working on the centre, which I plan to piece like this!
I am employing a method which uses one sided fusible webbing – this is slightly modified from what I learnt from a tute by Elizabeth Hartmann. It is a great technique for doing any pixelated quilt/ block!
Just in case you decide to piece your centre like mine, I am showing you how I did mine!
I have to piece a 7″ diameter block with 1/2″ ready squares. If I add a seam allowance of 1/2″ ( a larger seam allowance is always good when appliqueing circles) – I need an 8″ circle… Okay, I know not everyone loves the Maths like I do, so, without getting into too many calculations – let me show you what I did!
I started with:
4 shades of blue fabric – 6″ x 10″ each. I did need a few 2″ x 1″ strips more. You can add those as you need them.
Sheet of one-sided lightweight fusible webbing about 19″ square.
Fine permanent marker pen
18″x24″ cutting mat
6″x24″ ruler ( you can take any ruler 18″ or more in length)
Paper tape
Step 1. Draw a grid
The first step, is drawing an inch grid on the stabilizer sheet, and this is what I did a bit differently. I had planned to print the grid on the sheet, but my sheet had wrinkles. As I decided to draw lines manually, a brain wave struck! Why not use the inch grid on the mat as a guide to draw the grid ? then I don’t have to worry about getting the squares truly square!
Here is the story in pictures.
I placed the stabilizer sheet on the cutting mat. You can see how wrinkled it looks, and you can’t iron away those creases either. The sticky side is down.
I placed the fusible stabilizer sheet on the cutting mat…the inch grid is visible through the sheet.
Tape the sheet to the mat at the edges – smoothen as much as you can. The paper tears when you remove the tape, so I was glad I had the foresight to take a margin of an inch plus all around.
I taped the edges to the mat.
I used my long ruler to draw grid lines on the sheet, using the inch grid visible below the sheet as a guide. I drew lines on either side of the ruler before moving it to the next inch mark. you could use a lead pencil instead of a perma-ink pen, anything that is visible from the other side and does not smudge is fine.
Using the inch grid as a guide,I drew lines on the sheet with a perma-pen.
That was quick! Now the other side…
Draw perpendicular lines to get your inch grid.
Note to self – I could have drawn a grid any size with this method, only skipping the inch lines appropriately.
I marked the centre with a cross. This will help me in placing the fabric squares.
Mark the centre with a cross. (Use a pencil instead of the pen I used here)
Step One is done!
Step 2. Cutting the fabric
Here are my four rectangles of fabric 6′ x 10″ nicely starched and pressed. Do not spare the starch, the success of this method depends on it!
My four shades of blue – 6″ x 10″ each – starched, pressed and ready to cut!
I cut 42 squares from each of the fabrics – using 6″x 7″ of the fabric. I kept aside the 3″ x 6″ strips
I cut 1″ squares from the fabric, except a 3″ x 6″ strip.
Step 3 Pixellating
As I started off, I realized that an 18″ square was going to be difficult to handle, so I cut it into twoalong a grid line just above the centre row.
I now arranged my inch fabric squares on the grid. This will be a circle, so I did not bother to add any fabric on the corners, where it will be cut away in any case. The centre line of the proposed circle ( top row here) has 13 squares and the middle column has 7 squares. At the edges, I placed 2″ x 1″ rectangles. ( I cut these from the 3″ x 6″ fabric I had put aside earlier)
I want a bigger seam than the 1/4″ we use for our quilt piecing, so I have placed 2″ rectangles at the edges! This will mean one less seam line at the edge. We will know tomorrow if this worked or not!
Arrange the fabric squares on the sticky side of grid
Once the squares were arranged to my satisfaction, I pressed them down. This is the trickiest part, because squares as small as these like to move around and even fly off!
I similarly `pixellated’ the other cut of the stabilizer and pressed the squares in place. Here is how the two halves look!
Ready for the Hasina!
The centre piece is now ready to head to the sewing machine. And this is where I called it a day!
I hope you will be back tomorrow to see how this goes!
Goddess on the mountain top Burning like a silver flame The summit of beauty and love And Venus was her name…
( Lyrics from a popular song from the 70s, when I was a teenager!)
I find the folded star so very pretty and you see it everywhere these days! The reason that I could never get around to making it is that … as much as I may hate to admit it… I am a fabric miser! Therefore, I designed this paper pieced block, inspired by the folded star and named it Evening Star. There is already a quilt block with that name, so I thought of calling it `Morning Star’, but in Hindu mythology the Morning Star is the North Star, not to forget that this quilt is called “Dusk’!
I also wanted to dedicate this October Star, Venus, to my husband and son, whose birthdays fall this month. And then, Indian scientists decided it for me by sending a mission to Mars; if men now have a place to head to, we women need our very own Venus!
Venus ( at Dusk) – Block Five of the round the Year Quilt
So…introducing Venus, Block 5 of the Block of the Month quilt ” Dreamcatcher Round the Year”, designed in two colourways, Dusk and Rainbow. I used Quilt Assistant free software to design this block. This colour design shows the ‘Dusk’ Colourway in four shades of the main colour (blue here) and four shades ranging from yellow to deep orange in the contrast colour. My contrast colours are not symmetrical, because I liked the idea of a twinkling star, please make necessary adjustments in the fabric requirement if you want a `steadier’ star.
Fabric Requirement – Venus at Dusk
Fabric Requirement
Instructions
Print all templates in portrait mode at actual size. Also print the first two pages of the Instructions file and keep at hand. If you want to refer to the step by step piecing and assembly instructions, print the whole file! The links are at the end of this post.
Number and label each fabric colour. You can use the master template given below for trying out colour combinations.
I like to cut out all the pieces of one colour and pin them to the respective templates before I move to the next colour fabric. This helps me avoid a lot of confusion and heartburn later!
I suggest you piece the 8 templates A to H like log cabins. Align the straight edge of the strip with the printed seam line at each stage. It saves time if you work on all the templates at the same time. Complete the piecing at each step, trim the seams and press, before moving to the next step.
For more tips on paper piecing the blocks of this quilt, refer to this blogpost!
Assembly
Join the 8 wedges A to H to respective background pieces using the colour design and the Master template on Page 1 as a guide. Join in pairs to make the ¼ squares. Assemble these to make up the full block.
Here is the Master template – this is a mirror image of the colour design and shows the block from the printed paper side.
Master Template -Venus – Block Five of the Round the Year Quilt
Step by Step Piecing and Assembly Instructions
Anuradha Bahuguna of anumrinal.wordpress.com was sweet enough to test the block for me! All these pictures were taken by her. Would you believe this was her first attempt at paper piecing?
Like I said, the block templates A to H are pieced like individual log cabins, beginning from the centre ( yellow to oranges here).
1.I would recommend you sort out all the pieces template-wise and pin them to the far end of your template ( near the piece # 10-11) in the order of stitching – the longest piece at the bottom of the pile and the shortest on top.
For convenience, I am giving the piece number, size of the piece and fabric number here.
Paper piecing sizes
2. So we start with the 1.5″x2.75″ piece and pin it on the unprinted side of A1. The wrong side of the fabric should touch the paper at all times.
Note that the fabric extends at least ¼” beyond both seam lines, adjoining A2 as well as A3. Align the long edge of the fabric to the seam to be stitched – in this case between A1 and A2. Do this for all pieces to come. (Note – In the picture below, one can afford to move the fabric piece a bit upward, toward A3, so that the corner between A1 and A2-A3 is better covered.)
Hold against the light to see if your fabric placement is correct
What I am going to show you now is incorrect, because the ¼” margin is not available toward A2.
Incorrect!
Now place the 3″ x1.25″ fabric #3 on the just pinned piece, right sides together, and long edges aligned at seam A1-A2.
Piece #2 pinned along seam line to check placementThat seems fine – all margins covered!
Anuradha has pinned it on the seam allowance to check that fabric for area A2 completely covers it when opened. In the next picture she shows us how it looks from the flip side.
From the right side, Pieces # 1 and 2
That looks good.
Set the sewing machine to a stitch length between 1 and 1.5 so that it is easy to tear away the paper. Sew on the seam line A1-A2, extending the stitching line about ¼” on to A3.
Similarly stitch the first two pieces on all the templates, before heading to your ironing table and pressing the seams to set them. Then trim the seams to ¼” and open the piece #2 on all templates.
3. Pin piece#3, which is fabric#3 and 3.5″ long, right side down, aligning the long edge to ¼” beyond the printed seam line between A1 –A2 and A3, the way you would in a log cabin. Do this for all the templates and then do the stitching of piece #3 to pieces #1 and #2.
Press seam to set. Fold away the paper template after stitching the seam and trim the seam to ¼” before pressing open piece #3.
This is how your templates should look after this stage…
Pieces # 1, 2 and 3
4. Similarly attach pieces 4 and 5…
Checking if pieces # 4 and 5 in place?
5. Sew pieces # 6 and 7 to each of the templates.
Pretty!
Aren’t they pretty?
6. Here comes Piece#8. It will be followed by piece #9.
Piece 8 coming up
…the final blue pieces# 8 and 9 attached!
The star takes shape
7. Turn of the golds! Anuradha was a bit confused here, so she coloured the pieces 9 and 10 with pencils! Remember – the master template is a mirror inage?
Coloured pencils ensure you don’t get confused!
Not for long though! She attached the yellow to orange pieces at Areas # 10 and 11.
7. Here are her eight wedges, that will make up the 15″ circle, all pieced!
Ooh! That looks good!
The pattern suggests that you join each of these eight large pieced wedges to a corresponding background piece.
While I suggest a diagonal kind of dark/ bright background, Anuradha wanted to experiment with other `looks’. Time then, for some more confusion, while Anuradha tried out various settings for her circle! This..hmmm…I quite like this..
Light against dark and dark against light!
…this(which is also delicious)…
Light against light and dark against dark!
…and this! I am not so sure about this one…
Alternating the darks and lights…
Anuradha, I think, liked this! She joined the wedges to the backgrounds…
Wedges joined to the backgrounds
but changed her mind! She joined these wedges into pairs to make four squares. The squares were joined ( like a four patch) to make up the final block. Here it is from the wrong side, withe paper removed!
The paper removed!
Anuradha does not care much for the centre of her block from the back. It refuses to lie flat.
The centre needs some work!
I promised to show her how to make those seams meet in a swirl and lie perfectly flat. For that she needs firstly to ensure that her seams are pressed in one direction. I tried looking for a good tutorial that teaches you how to do it , in vain. It is very similar to the what you would do in a pinwheel block. She has not got back to me on this, so perhaps she has found a solution?
When I make my block, I will share with you (and Anuradha) how to make the wrong side of your block look like this.
A star on th wrong side of an eight point star – tute coming up, soon!
The front is perfect, all points matched, just so. Here it is, Anuradha’s gorgeous Venus Block, flipped over, from the right side.
The Venus, shining brightest, amongst all the twinkling stars!
Now is that not absolutely gorgeous?
Anuradha’s block is ready, waiting to see yours ! Meanwhile, the Venus song is stuck in my head.
She’s got it Yeah, baby, she’s got it I’m your Venus, I’m your fire At your desire Well, I’m your Venus, I’m your fire At your desire
(Do go listen to the full song, it is `awesome’!)
Before I log off, here is a look at the Rainbow Venus, in its original avatar.
And finally the Instructions and templates are available on my online store Madspatch in pdf format. Remember, print at actual size! You need Adobe Reader to be able to read these files, Adobe Reader is downloadable for free.
Instructions file – Venus, Block 5 of the Dreamcatcher Round the Year Quilt. The step by step piecing instructions and pics are included in this file, page 3 onwards. If you do not want them, print only the first 2 pages.
Paper Piecing Templates File – Venus, Block 5 of the Dreamcatcher Round the Year Quilt
Please note that the downloadable patterns and instruction files for the Dreamcatcher Round the Year quilt blocks are being migrated to my store MadsPatch and will not be available for download for free from 15th November 2020 onwards.
So here we are, on Layout Option 3 for the blocks for the Dreamcatcher Round the Year Block of the Month Quilt. You may also like to see Option 1 and Option 2 , which were posted quite some time ago!
This layout, inspired by the Chopsticks Quilt Pattern found on oneworldfabrics.com, is my favourite! I shall probably be using this for my quilt, using two shades of blue for the background, instead of the greys here.
This makes a 100″ x 100″ quilt, with plenty of negative space to showcase each block and to show off your quilting! Bonus – you get to use all of your scraps for the chopsticks!
With this, my work is done. I am yet to join the circles to the squares, I will be stay in touch as I share with you my learnings during the process.
I hope you have been enjoying this whole journey, which now nears its finish line!
Happy quilting and please keep sharing your blocks on my Facebook page!
Please note that the downloadable patterns and instruction files for the Dreamcatcher Round the Year quilt blocks are being migrated to my store MadsPatch and will not be available for download for free from 15th November 2020 onwards.
I see to have hit some kind of a mental block trying to do calculations for the Layout Option 3 for the Dreamcatcher Round the Year Quilt. So I decided to share the real blocks that people have been making, using the free Block of the Month patterns on this blog! Links to the patterns for these blocks are given towards the end of this post.
A few of the Dahlia blocks had been shared earlier, on this post. Here comes some more magic…
Anuradha Ramesh’s Rainbow lights up the Evening at the PondDevi Nair’s Peaceful EveningDiptee Raut’s geese circle a green-blue algae infested pond against the pink sunset!Jaya Parker’s gorgeous colour wheel!Vicki Trerotola’s purple evening…
Here are blocks 3 and 4 by Vicki…
Vicki Trerotola’s Card TrickVicki’s Sapphire Fire – actually, her Amethyst block!
This is the test block that Anuradha Ramesh did for me , Block 4, Sapphire Fire.
Anuradha Ramesh’s Block 4
After Anuradha finished this block, I came across a picture of a gemstone that is uncannily similar to her block – the Ametrine.
The Ametrine – a gemstone
Isn’t that amazing?
Please note that the downloadable patterns and instruction files for the Dreamcatcher Round the Year quilt blocks are being migrated to my store MadsPatch and will not be available for download for free from 15th November 2020 onwards.
Before I sign off to do more calculations on the third layout option for the quilt, I will let you have a peek at what I am designing…
Layout Option 3 – inspired by the Chopsticks Quilt by oneworldfabrics.com
This layout is inspired by the original Camelot quilt. It finishes at 90″ x 90″ with a triple border measuring 9″. The inner most border is 1.5″ wide, in the background colour, followed by a middle flying geese border of 3″ and finally a 4.5″ solid border, again in the background fabric. Each of the block corners has 3″ half square triangle, made of 2 QSTs pieced together. I can visualise a small colourwheel at the corner as an alternative! Add a 6″ star of your choice in the corner of the border.
Fabric Requirement
I have given a margin of a few inches at each level.
I will give more details about how to bring it all together when all the blocks are done and we are ready to put together the top. Meanwhile, templates for the background square, the flying geese border and the corner star are given at the end of this post.These requirements are for the pieced background. The template for this is also included at the end of this post.
If appliquéing the fully pieced circles to the squares, you need sixteen 19.5″ squares. When cutting from 42-44″ width fabric, you require 4.5 yard fabric for the background alone.
If you use the shorter 34″ – 36″ width fabric, I suggest you cut a single row of squares, borders and binding from the length of the fabric. You need about 8.5 metres of the 34-36″ width fabric in total.
I tried the same layout in a different colour combination.
And also with different pieced borders, ranging from 1.5″ to 4.5″ in width…
In all case the fabric required for the binding and borders would be approximately the same.
This is the quilt as originally planned, in the classic red and white. With a little bit of imagination, all the quilt blocks can be made in just two colours, as you can see!
Before I give the templates, I have a question! What do you call the geometric space left behind when you remove a circle from a square -what we have been referring to as the background? I asked a mathematician friend who could not help me! So I have decided to name it the squircle! Now for the templates, including one for the squircle for a 18″ square minus a 15″ circle, for layout option 2.
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